Data centers are complex systems that include power and cooling infrastructure as well as information technology (IT) equipment such as servers, storage, networking switches and the like. IT workloads (e.g., processing tasks) are commonly distributed to achieve a reduction in power consumption of the IT equipment, for example by consolidating workloads so that unused IT equipment may be turned off or put into a lower power state. Alternately, IT workloads are distributed to a particular location in the data center based on knowledge of the location's cooling capacity or the local cooling efficiency. For example, a server that is lower in a rack and thus closer to an air vent or tile may be cooled with less computer room air conditioning (CRAC) power compared to a server that is higher in a rack since the temperatures at the top of the racks can be higher due to recirculation of the hot air from behind the rack.
However, data centers may employ multiple means of cooling generation, each of which has different associated costs, distribution architectures, and eventual impact on the cooling of the data center. Distributing IT workloads based on minimizing IT equipment power consumption or based on local location-dependent cooling efficiency does not address the impact of multiple means of generation on overall system efficiency.